Category Archives: Apps

Time for Bed Little Ted is a sweet and helpful interactive bedtime story for tucking in your kids. It offers a calming and cute bear that has to get ready for bed. The child will help the bear as he puts his toys away, gets his pajamas on, and brushes his teeth. As he works through the steps of a bedtime routine, the interactive activities are simple and engaging to the story. As bedtime can be a challenging task each night for many young children, this app can help as a social story schedule and to better support a typical nightly routine. It also is very calming and perfect as a bedtime story.

The beautiful story was written by Kryssy Hurley. You can read more about her journey on creating this app on her website, Time for Bed Little Ted. She talks a little about being a parent of a child with ASD and her focus on finding a story that can support all children. She also talks about how this sweet story evolved into an Ebook and now an app that is available on an Android and the iPad. The hand drawn illustrations are done by Monika Suska. Other contributors for music, narration, and development include: Dan Budd, Jasmine Hyde, Antenna Studios, Alejandra Labraga Arbelo, and Blakethedev.com.

They also have some fantastic apps on their site to support children with autism. I have recently downloaded ‘Staying Safe and Safer Strangers’, an app which teaches about stranger-danger. It uses social stories to break down social and behavioural skills into smaller steps that are simple and easy for a child to understand. “Talking about getting lost and teaching about community safety can be a scary, or daunting task. These two social stories teach what to do to stay safe in the community with simple descriptive language and fun illustrations. These social stories provide a vocabulary for you to talk about these important skills.”

I am also intending to download ‘Visual Timer’ and ‘Calm Counter’, both resources which I think would work well with my son.

The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA) evaluates products and services created for children, families and educators. The program is globally recognized for establishing the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. The organization is based in the United States and has reviewed thousands of items from more than 55 countries.

Around the world, parents, educators, retailers and members of the media look for the MCA mother-and-child Honoring Excellence seal of approval when selecting quality products and services for children and families.

Recently, K-Lytics.com, a site devoted to tracking eBook trends, found a major jump in the number of children’s eBooks being published and sold on Amazon. They point specifically to the introduction of Kindle Kids Book Creator as the cause!

Look’s like some really interesting stuff is coming our way! As a teacher I like the customizable game platforms. I’m already using some simplified versions of this but can’t wait to see what else is coming out.

Also, check out the special needs apps recommended by TEACHERS WITH APPS. I have recently purchased, ‘STORIES ABOUT ME’, by Limited Cue. There is so much out there now for children with autism, that it’s useful to have a site that reviews in such a thorough and detailed way.

This article is really worth reading, regardless of whether you are an author, parent or teacher. We are in danger of losing or limiting the most creative, original apps if we don’t give them the value they deserve!